Introduction of agroforestry production techniques around a national park in Honduras will enhance upland watershed integrity & protect endangered species like the jaguar. (Photo: EcoLogic)

The Park is home to many endangered and threatened species, and provides essential connectivity for the Meso-American Biological Corridor. Its natural resources have been seriously degraded due to marginal agriculture and cattle grazing. The project is expected to sequester a minimum oft 0.45 to 0.55 Mt CO2e by 2017. In addition, the project will also pilot an avoided deforestation component, which is expected to sequester around 0.5 Mt CO2e. This will be the first pilot for avoided deforestation for the BioCF. The additional income provided by the carbon sequestration is key to the realization of the project. The combined reforestation efforts will greatly enhance the park's ability to sustain threatened biodiversity in addition to improving the integrity of headwaters for several rivers that originate in the park and its buffer zone. More specifically, the project seeks to provide several environmental benefits, including improved slope stability, reduced soil erosion on steep slopes and enhanced upland watershed integrity for freshwater production.

Reforestation around Pico Bonito relies heavily on employing local people

The project will employ hundreds of local people to establish the commercial-grade plantation certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, as well as to reforest degraded lands in the park's buffer zone for conservation purposes. It will also integrate social benefits to 20 villages in the park buffer zone through on-farm technical assistance, sustainable forestry management training, establishment of sustainable livelihoods, and permanent sharing of profits for community investment. The project will monitor potential leakage and will reduce the risk of non-permanence by employing local community members as park rangers to prevent illegal logging.

The project is developed by EcoLogic (www.ecologic.org), a NGO whose mandate is to protect the wildlife and wildlands of Latin America by advancing community-based economic development and natural resource management. Together with other sponsors, they will create a for-profit company, Pico Bonito Inc., to manage the project and be the owner of the emission reductions. This will be done partially through a private placement in the market. This model is unique in that the community will be a part owner and share in the profits through Pico Bonito Inc., which in turn will be ploughed back into investments that benefit the community as a whole. Pico Bonito Inc. will also include representatives from the communities. Fundación Parque Nacional Pico Bonito (FUPNAPIB), a Honduran NGO that has been dedicated to the sustainable management of Pico Bonito National Park since 1994, will also sponsor the project and will be subcontracted by Pico Bonito Inc. to handle the agroforestry and conservation components. The BioCF funding is a small percentage of the overall funding needs for this project. The project has several identified other investors, which include the Corporación Hondureña de Desarrollo Forestal (www.cohdefor.hn), Honduran and international investors and lenders, as well as various private landholders in the region.